Disposable containers containing cold or hot liquids are in wide use. In order to prevent the liquid from being accidently spilled during use, it is known to cover the open upper end of the container with a disposable cap having an upwardly extending drinking spout. The cap has a peripheral socket which engages the periphery of the upper end of the container.
Known caps when secured to such containers are subject to substantial and undesired leakage when a container of liquid covered with a known cap is disposed horizontally on its side or even when the container is disposed vertically and is subjected to sudden movement as for example when held in a moving vehicle so that the liquid surges upward and out ot the spout.
Copending application Ser. No. 08/224,189 is directed toward a new type of disposable cap for detachably enclosing an upper open end of a hollow vertical disposable container with liquid therein, the container having a closed lower end, which eliminates such liquid leakage problems. This cap employs a flat horizontal disc having first and second openings disposed in spaced apart positions therein. The first opening is a pin hole. The second opening is relatively large. The disc has a peripheral socket adapted to engage the periphery of the upper end of the container in such manner that liquid cannot flow out therebetween.
The cap has a hollow vertical hollow spout for delivery of the liquid. The spout tapers upwardly and outwardly from the disc and has an open lower end coincident with said second opening. The spout has an upper open end defining a first permanently open slot therein, the upper end being smaller in area than the lower end. A hollow member is disposed within the spout with an upper open end coincident with the upper end of the spout. The member has walls which are immobile with respect to each other and which extend downwardly and inwardly from the upper end of the spout to a lower end horizontally aligned with the lower end of the spout. The lower end of the member has a second permanently open slot always smaller in area than that of the first slot. Typically, the area of this second slot is less than one half the area of the first slot.
The disc, spout and member constitute a single integral unit which when positioned in place on the container will not exhibit any substantial leakage of liquid when the liquid in the container surges therein because of sudden movement of the container or when the container is disposed horizontally on its side:
The cap is formed by injection molding and displays greater structural strength than caps formed by vacuum molding. Consequently, injection molded caps can be used in applications such as soda filled containers served to children wherein vacuum molded caps can be accidently squeezed and collapse.
Since the lower end of the member is horizontally aligned with the lower end of the spout, these caps cannot be stacked one above another with the spout of the lower cap extending partially within the spout of the upper cap.
However, it is relatively expensive to form the member with walls which are immobile with respect to each other and which extend downwardly and inwardly from the upper end of the spout to a lower end horizontally aligned with the lower end of the spout.
The present invention provides an injection molded cap having the same advantages of the cap disclosed in the aforementioned application but differs in geometry and can be manufactured less expensively.